Providing a wide range of homes to meet need and aspiration ..... to Solar panel installations new HOMES. This means...
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COMMUNITY
Each of the main sections within this document are identified by the themes of our 2020 Vision. You will find the relevant section key on the left hand side of each page underneath the page number.
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FOREWORD
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ABOUT US
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OUR HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014-15
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HOUSING CHOICE
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COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
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CUSTOMER OFFER
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OUR PEOPLE, OUR ORGANISATION
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OUR AWARDS 2014-15
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OUR FINANCIALS 2014-15
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FOREWORD This Annual Report outlines the achievements of Orbit Group in 2014-15. We have much to celebrate. In spite of the many changes we have faced, we are succeeding in our mission of Building Communities. We are committed to providing housing choice, to investing in communities and to serving our customers well.
During 2014-15 we provided homes and services to some 100,000 customers. We completed 1,500 new homes for rent and for sale. We invested around £1.8m in the communities where we work, providing thousands of people with advice, training and job opportunities. We have tried to make a difference to the quality of people’s lives through services, such as Care and Repair. For the first time we secured a £250m bond. This will enable us to build more new homes, making a much-needed contribution to reducing the serious shortage of housing, especially for first time buyers, in those parts of the country where the demand for affordable homes far exceeds the supply.
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We are grateful to everyone who has helped make this possible and especially our hard working and committed staff. We would also like to thank our partners for their support and our customers for their appreciation of the services, which we provide.
Baroness Tessa Blackstone Orbit Group Board Chair
Paul Tennant Orbit Group Chief Executive
ABOUT US Orbit Group is a 39,000-home housing organisation operating in 120 local authority areas across the Midlands, East, South East and London. We combine national influence with regionally and locally-delivered services through our operating associations, Orbit Heart of England, Orbit East and Orbit South.
We have one of the largest affordable housing development pipelines in the housing sector through Orbit Homes, our development and sales arm. We build and develop a range of tenures from rented to market sale. This year we have secured two sites for our first private rented homes.
Our staff work closely within our communities to understand and respond to customer need, and to develop robust, long-term partnerships with stakeholders. Orbit Independent Living provides homes and services for those needing extra support, including sheltered, supported and extra care housing.
Service Matters sells professional services to other organisations. Orbit Services provides our back office functions, and manages our Help to Buy agency, one of the biggest in the country. Orbit Treasury Limited is our joint treasury vehicle, seeking major investment to fund new homes, and improve homes and services for our customers and communities.
Front Line Services Support Services Orbit Living
Click here to see our Board members Click here to see our Executive team
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OUR HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014-15 ABOUT ORBIT GROUP
HOUSING CHOICE
1,031 We have 1,175 staff
affordable homes built
342 shared ownership homes created
1,521
new homes in total created
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
1,530 We have 39,000 homes
training AND support activities delivered for customers
224
£2.1 m
customers helped into jobs
Invested BY ORBIT in community projects
81%
9,000
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
people given financial and energy advice
CUSTOMER OFFER
17,068 We provide services to c100,000 people
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homes above BAND C energy efficiency
HOUSING CHOICE Providing a wide range of homes to meet need and aspiration
CONSTRUCTION OF OUR ERITH PARK REGENERATION DEVELOPMENT
ORBIT SHARED OWNERSHIP CUSTOMERS
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AN ORBIT CUSTOMER ENJOYING THE FACILITIES AT OUR ST BEDE’S, INDEPENDENT LIVING WITH CARE SCHEME IN BEDFORD
ERITH PARK CUSTOMER WELCOMING MAYOR OF LONDON, BORIS JOHNSON, INTO HIS NEW HOME
OUR QUEENSWAY COURT DEVELOPMENT IN LEAMINGTON SPA, EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE OVER 55S
HOUSING CHOICE Providing a wide range of homes to meet need and aspiration HOUSING CHOICE 2014-15
IN 2015-17 WE WILL DEVELOP:
1,031
342
Rented properties built
2,370
Shared ownership homes developed
Homes TO RENT
660
1,521 Shared ownership HOMES
Homes built
Sites obtained for private rented homes This means...
£6.2m
=
Profit from development sales
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260 New HOMES
OR...
OR...
1,560 Existing homes made More fuel efficient
520 Apprentices
530
Market Sale HOMES
HOUSING CHOICE Providing a wide range of homes to meet need and aspiration We face a national housing crisis. Many people find themselves priced out of the market with limited choices and an unstable future. It is our responsibility to ensure that people have access to an affordable home which will contribute to a stable and sustainable future. This is the driver for our ambitious build programme: 12,000 new homes by 2020. Orbit Homes has announced a sector-leading development programme with plans for almost 8,500 new homes between 2015-2020. A national survey by Inside Housing, of top housing association developers, showed Orbit Homes having the second largest projected development programme between 2015-2020, with a planned 8,418 new homes in that period. It has already secured land for more than 4,000 of these homes.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014-15
• • • • • •
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London Mayor, Boris Johnson, visited Erith Park on 5 January and met the first customers moving into their new homes. He praised the scheme for its design and the positive impact on the community. A planning application has been approved for phase two, which will include 244 homes to add to phase one’s 343 homes. Orbit was successful in its tender for the Help to Buy Agents service for the West Midlands and East Midlands areas. This makes Orbit one of the largest Help to Buy Agents in England. St Bede’s, our independent living with care scheme in Bedford, has won a number of awards – Housing Project of the Year at the Building Awards 2015, best Residential Scheme at the East of England Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards 2015 and Development of the Year at the Chartered Institute of Housing Awards 2014. The scheme comprises 104 luxury apartments alongside a multitude of communal facilities, including a hairdressers, gym, shop, restaurant and games room. We have secured our first private rented sector scheme sites in Norwich and Stratford-upon-Avon. We have exchanged contracts on a large site on the old Cattle Market site in Stratford-upon-Avon, which will see the development of a mixed tenure site, including independent living with care. In a survey by Inside Housing, of the top 50 developing housing associations, Orbit Homes was placed as the fourth largest housing association developer with 1,521 homes completed.
HOUSING CHOICE Providing a wide range of homes to meet need and aspiration QUEENSWAY INDEPENDENT LIVING WITH CARE CASE STUDY
SCHEME RESIDENTS MR & MRS DAVIES
“We had lived in our own house for all our married lives but started to consider how we would cope with the garden, maintenance and stairs when we were older. It was a major step for us but the purchase process went smoothly and our first impression of our new home was that everything was top quality. After living here for two months we have been able to take stock of our new life at Queensway Court. We have the convenience of an on-site restaurant, coffee shop, laundry, hairdresser and residents’ bar. We have two large gardens to use, no more house maintenance, no boiler to service, and no stairs! All of this has made our lives simpler and freed up time to do other things.” Mr & Mrs Davies
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HOUSING CHOICE Providing a wide range of homes to meet need and aspiration SHARED OWNERSHIP VIDEO CASE STUDY
MICHELLE AND ROB’S STORY Watch how Michelle and Rob bought their first family home through shared ownership with Orbit Homes
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COMMUNITY INVESTMENT Creating thriving and empowered communities
WILD EARTH ACTIVITY DAY
APPLESEED PROJECT
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT ROADSHOW EVENT
GREGGS’ BREAKFAST CLUB
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BRIAR CROFT DEMENTIA CAFE
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT Creating thriving and empowered communities Community investment is about working with people to create thriving and empowered communities. To achieve this, our communities need social, economic and environmental investments and opportunities to make them sustainable for the long-term. We have four priorities for investing in our communities and each priority has a strategy and a local delivery plan: • • • •
Financial inclusion – providing financial and energy advice and support Employment and skills Wellbeing Digital inclusion – making the internet accessible to all through training and support.
Our ambition is to invest £30million into our communities by 2020 in areas that our people and customers have identified. Our Strategic Community Investment Framework outlines Orbit’s approach to community investment. This strategic framework underpins our efforts and ensures that all of our other strategies are aligned to deliver our community investment priorities. In 2015-17 we will: • Provide employment and skills training to 2,225 customers • Support 340 customers to gain employment or start their own business • Invest £4.2million • Increase the use of and develop social enterprises within our supply chains • Provide a core set of services to customers through a range of channels, such as money, employment and digital support.
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COMMUNITY INVESTMENT Creating thriving and empowered communities COMMUNITY INVESTMENT 2014-15 APPRENTICES
100 APPRENTICES ACROSS THE ORGANISATION and our supply chain WELLBEING
EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS
3,561 UNIQUE customers ACTIVELY ENGAGING WITH WELLBEING PROVISIONS FUNDED THROUGH ORBIT
FINANCIAL INCLUSION ADVICE
Customers receiving employment support WITH 224 OF THEM MOVING INTO EMPLOYMENT
DIGITAL INCLUSION
4,716 Customers HAVE ACCESSED FINANCIAL ADVICE
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1,530
967 Customers GIVEN TRAINING OR SUPPORTED TO ACCESS THE INTERNET
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT Creating thriving and empowered communities COMMUNITY INVESTMENT VIDEO CASE STUDIES
RYAN’S STORY Watch Ryan’s story - how he secured an apprenticeship through working with Orbit.
LIAM’S STORY Watch Liam’s story – how getting involved with Orbit has changed his life.
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CUSTOMER OFFER Enabling customers to make choices and take control
ORBIT CUSTOMERS PARTICIPATING IN AN INVOLVEMENT EVENT
OUR HOUSING OFFICERS OFFER CUSTOMERS ENERGY EFFICIENCY ADVICE
ORBIT’S GARDEN COURT OFFICE BECAME ENERGY EFFICIENT WITH THE USE OF SOLAR PANELS
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PAUL TENNANT ANNOUNCES OUR 2014 BRIAN GRIFFITHS AWARD WINNERS AT THE BUILDING COMMUNITIES AWARDS CEREMONY
ORBIT HEART OF ENGLAND CUSTOMER SCRUTINY TEAM
CUSTOMER OFFER Enabling customers to make choices and take control Our customers live in a world with increasing economic and social pressures. We are more than just a housing provider because we are increasing our offer for our customers to help them meet these challenges. Sometimes this means we will campaign on issues, such as fuel poverty, that seriously affect our customers and communities to give them a voice. Advice and support • •
‘Live Chat’ is a housing first, an instant online way to ‘talk’ to us. We also have social media, email and, of course, phone calls. Our Green Doctor has provided over 450 homes with energy advice within the last 12 months helping customers save money on their energy bills.
• The Brian Griffiths award is intended to support our customers moving forward, address any challenges they face and ultimately help them reach their final goal. It should enable them to do something that has the potential to change their life. • Care & Repair can help anyone aged 60 and over, or with a disability, to improve, repair or adapt their home to make sure it is a safe and comfortable place to live. • Advice Services provide a range of advice and support from budgeting to debt management, to advising on the effects of welfare reforms. The aim of the service is to help sustain tenancies to provide a stable home.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014-15 • • • • •
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Orbit and the Chartered Institute of Housing jointly launched a major research report on shared ownership linked to our 2020 targets on ‘Housing Choice’. We were delighted that the government responded by announcing a formal consultation on how to enhance the product. £14.2million has been invested in our existing stock to replace kitchens, bathrooms and boilers. Energy Efficiency Renovation Programme (EERP) aims to upgrade the thermal comfort and efficiency of our homes. We have completed two programmes, one in Wellesbourne and the other in Erith. We have asked all customers whose homes have been upgraded in this programme to provide details of 12 months’ energy consumption prior to the works, and then again 12 months after the work, so we can all see the positive impact of the works on energy consumption and the carbon footprint. We finalised the real time customer feedback pilot that was launched in May 2015. It is a first for Orbit and the housing sector. It will help with our service improvement and achieving 90% customer satisfaction by 2020. As part of our channel shift agenda, all our customers now have log-in details for the customer secure area on our website.
CUSTOMER OFFER Enabling customers to make choices and take control For Orbit Living, 2014-15 was a year of major reviews to help us plan how we can tailor services better to meet our customers’ needs, as well as deliver our 2020 targets. Community investment, estate services, the complaints service and customer involvement were just some of the areas of the business to complete reviews, helped by involved customers throughout the process.
Overall, customer satisfaction with the repairs service improved towards the end of the year. We also reduced the waiting time for repairs and increased the number of repairs completed first time.
Improving communication and making services available and accessible to all customers featured in the reviews. Tailoring services so that we are providing what customers want will not only help improve customer satisfaction but will also deliver value for money.
All areas of Orbit Living explored different ways of communicating with customers using a variety of channels, such as text, social media, email, and more traditional choices. As well as supporting customers to access our services online (such as paperless statements), this multi-channel approach will help us reach our 2020 target of 90% customer satisfaction by providing a range of convenient options for customers.
We delivered a comprehensive programme of planned works ahead of schedule, which will be more accurate and fair to all customers.
Click here to Read our Customer Annual Report
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CUSTOMER OFFER Enabling customers to make choices and take control CUSTOMER OFFER 2014-15
IN 2015-17 WE WILL:
17,068 Homes above Band C energy Efficiency
82%
81%
satisfaction for existing customers
Customer Satisfaction
85%
9,000 People given financial and energy advice
£14.2m
satisfaction for customers with New Rented Homes
invested in replacing kitchens, bathrooms and boilers
Channel shift - online repairs Reporting and e-tenancy
energy ADVICE AND Green Doctor home visits
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Customers comminicated with orbit through live chat
Launch an energy clinic to provide advice
CUSTOMER OFFER Enabling customers to make choices and take control ENERGY EFFiCIENCY 2014-15
4,240 customers have accessed energy advice
-1% Almost 1% reduction in energy cost for Orbit contributing to our efficiency savings
22,519 kWh of energy generated by domestic solar panel installations in Six months from July 2014 to January 2015
WE MADE Average savings of over £150
This means...
£90k
7420kg carbon per annum saved
19
=
received in Feed-in Tariff (FIT) payments relating to Solar panel installations
3.6 new HOMES
OR...
21.6 existing homes more fuel efficient
OR...
7 apprentices
CUSTOMER OFFER Enabling customers to make choices and take control
“The house retains heat for much longer and feels warmer, we turn the central heating off at 6.30pm and it is still warm at 9.00pm. It’s also lifted the estate, it looks nice, and we really like it.” Mr & Mrs Nutt “The house feels warmer. The back bedroom used to get cold and damp but now feels much warmer and the damp has subsided. It’s made the look of the estate much better. You can tell the difference as soon as you come into the estate, and we have been here many years. They look like new private properties.” Mr & Mrs Wargent These are just two of the comments from our customers on our first Energy Efficiency Renovation Programme (EERP), which started in the Autumn of
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BILL’S STORY 2014 in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. By the start of 2015, 56 homes had received thermal improvement measures and now need less energy to keep warm. The majority were fitted with a layer of insulation on the outside walls - reducing heating bills by an expected £185 annually.
Watch Bill’s story - how Orbit helped him get online.
OUR PEOPLE, OUR ORGANISATION
SHARED OWNERSHIP CUSTOMERS 2020 STAFF ENGAGEMENT ROADSHOW, 2015
LIZ KERSHAW, DJ AND PATRON FOR AGE UK WARWICKSHIIRE, CHATS WITH STAFF AT OUR QUEENSWAY DEVELOPMENT OPENING EVENT
ERITH PARK DEVELOPMENT APPRENTICE BUILDING COMMUNITIES, STAFF AND CUSTOMER AWARDS 2014
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ORBIT ACADEMY TRAIN STAFF MEMBERS
OUR PEOPLE, OUR ORGANISATION
OUR HISTORY Founded in 1967, Orbit’s initial ambition was to build affordable homes for people. This was the catalyst for us adopting a bold and innovative approach. Times have changed but we remain true to our roots. In 2012, Orbit commissioned the Housing 2020 Report, written by six experts forecasting the shape of the world in 2020. This, along with input from our customers and from the London School of Economics, shaped our service, our mission ‘Building Communities’ and the development in 2013 of our 2020 Vision.
OUR FUTURE Our 2015-17 Business Plan ‘Delivery & Growth’ has a clear focus on: 1. 2. 3. 4.
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Providing quality services to our customers Delivering 3,600 affordable new homes Improving our efficiency to generate increased profits for investment into new homes and services Continued development of our people and organisation so we can do more and better
OUR PEOPLE, OUR ORGANISATION VALUE FOR MONEY 2014-15
In 2015-17 we will achieve:
This means...
£1.8m
OR...
432
72
=
efficiency savings
OR...
144
efficiencies
existing homeS made more fuel efficient
new homes
apprentices
25%
OUR PEOPLE 2014-15
63%
37%
1,957
£2,087.82
17,068
1,175 staff 63% WOMEN 37% MEN
raised BY Your Orbit for charity
people trained by Orbit Academy
OUR CUSTOMERS 2014-15
80% + customers satisfied that their views were taken into account
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£10m
operating margins
74% staff Engagement Index
100%
customers happy with their engagement training
over £100m total profits
OUR PEOPLE, OUR ORGANISATION OUR ENGAGEMENT It’s important to engage with our people, customers and stakeholders to understand what is important to them, if we are giving the right service and how we can improve. We have a variety of ways to engage. Our People Your Orbit is our staff forum. It is a group of staff representatives from each business area working hard to represent views and provide feedback, with the aim of improving the workplace for all staff members. It strives for openness, tolerance and freedom to question or make suggestions. Our Customers At the end of 2014-15 there were more than 400 customers who had registered an interest in being involved with Orbit through a variety of ways; from policy changes to site inspections. To ensure everyone can get involved we have an ‘at home’ offer. This enables customers the opportunity to participate in home-based activities, such as customer magazines, repairs service and website development. Our Suppliers Creating Social Value is integral to our organisational culture. Our procurement team, in partnership with Social Enterprise UK, Wates Living Space, PwC and the Chartered Institute of Housing, produced Communities Count: The Four Steps to Unlocking Social Value. This is guidance for the sector on measuring social value but also in embedding social value into procurement activity. Service Matters has published Communities Count beyond the bottom line: a practical guide to achieving Social Value through public sector procurement.
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AWARDS 2014-15
WINNER
HIGHLY COMMENDED
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OUR FINANCIALS 2014-15 2014-15 HIGHLIGHTS Despite a challenging operating environment, we have delivered strong performance during the year, meeting or exceeding 88% of the targets set within the 2014-15 Business Plan and exceeding target by delivering a profit of £45.4million. We delivered a significant and successful transformation programme while completing the country’s third largest Affordable Homes Programme pipeline, continuing to deliver good service levels to customers, and reducing management costs with efficiency savings of £1.8million. Other highlights for the year include: • • • •
Achieving a market sales surplus of £3.2million - surpassing our annual targets Maintaining strong arrears performance at 3%, despite welfare reforms Securing our first ever Bond of £250million to fund further homes Increasing online transactions to 11% from a base of below 5%
Read our full 2014-15 Financial Statement here
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Produced in-house by Futures Directorate, Orbit Group August 2015
www.orbit.org.uk @OrbitGroup Orbit Group Ltd. Registered Office: Garden Court, Harry Weston Road, Binley Business Park, Coventry CV3 2SU Homes and Communities Agency Reg. No. L4123 Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 - Registered Society No. 28503R (Exempt Charity).
